FlowSearch
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Support/Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting Guide

Solutions to common issues and how to debug FlowSearch problems.

Quick Diagnostics

Open your browser's Developer Tools (F12) and check the Console tab for errors.

// Quick diagnostic script - paste in console
console.log('FlowSearch loaded:', typeof FlowSearch !== 'undefined');
console.log('Search form:', document.querySelector('[data-fs-search]'));
console.log('Input element:', document.querySelector('[data-fs-input]'));
console.log('Results element:', document.querySelector('[data-fs-results]'));

Common Issues

"FlowSearch is not defined"

Script not loading or loading order issue

Causes:

  • • Script tag missing or incorrect
  • • Initialization code running before script loads
  • • CDN blocked by ad blocker or firewall

Solutions:

  1. Verify the Search Bar Script is in Webflow Site Settings → Custom Code → Head Code:
    <script
  src="https://www.flowsearch.io/widget.js"
  data-key="YOUR_SEARCH_KEY"
  data-results-page="/search-results"
  data-live="true">
</script>
  2. If this is the results page, verify the Results Page Script is in that page's Head Code only
  3. Check Network tab for blocked requests to www.flowsearch.io

"No elements found"

FlowSearch can't find your search elements

Causes:

  • • Missing data attributes on elements
  • • Script running before DOM is ready
  • • Typo in attribute names

Solutions:

  1. Check elements have correct attributes:
    <form data-fs-search>
  <input data-fs-input />
  <button data-fs-submit type="submit">Search</button>
</form>

<div data-fs-results>
  <a data-fs-result data-fs-url href="#">
    <h3 data-fs-title></h3>
    <p data-fs-snippet></p>
  </a>
</div>
  2. Add HTML snippets with a Webflow Embed/custom code element, or recreate them natively with the same attributes
  3. Inspect element in Webflow to verify attribute is set

Search not returning results

Input works but no results appear

Causes:

  • • Invalid or expired API key
  • • Website not crawled yet
  • • Network/CORS issues

Solutions:

  1. Check your API key in the dashboard
  2. Verify crawl completed successfully
  3. Check Network tab for failed API requests
  4. Check the loaded widget configuration in the browser console:
    console.log(window.FlowSearch?.config);

Results not visible

Search works but results don't display

Causes:

  • • CSS hiding the results container
  • • Z-index issues (behind other elements)
  • • Container has zero height

Solutions:

  1. Inspect the results container in DevTools
  2. Check for display: none or visibility: hidden
  3. Add higher z-index to results:
    [data-fs-results],
.fs-live-dropdown { z-index: 9999; }
  4. Ensure container has proper positioning for dropdown

Works in Designer, not on published site

Or vice versa

Important:

FlowSearch only works on published sites, not in the Webflow Designer preview. Custom code doesn't execute in the Designer.

Solutions:

  1. Always test on your published site or staging domain
  2. After making changes, publish and refresh with cache cleared
  3. Use Webflow's staging domain for testing

Debugging Tips

Check Loaded Configuration

Confirm the script picked up the expected API key, results page, and live-search settings:

// Paste in the browser console on your published site
console.log(window.FlowSearch?.config);
window.FlowSearch?.fetchResults('test').then(console.log);

Check Network Requests

  1. Open DevTools → Network tab
  2. Type in the search input
  3. Look for requests to www.flowsearch.io/api/search
  4. Check status codes and response bodies

Test API Directly

// Test API in browser console
fetch('https://www.flowsearch.io/api/search?q=test&key=YOUR_SEARCH_KEY')
.then(r => r.json())
.then(console.log)
.catch(console.error);

// Or use the header form for server-side tests
fetch('https://www.flowsearch.io/api/search?q=test', {
  headers: { 'X-API-Key': 'YOUR_SEARCH_KEY' }
})
.then(r => r.json())
.then(console.log)
.catch(console.error);

Plan And AI Errors

SEARCH_RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED

The site exceeded its plan's search request or concurrency limit

  • • Reduce live-search frequency or increase data-live-delay
  • • Request fewer results per page
  • • Upgrade when visitor search volume needs a higher limit or faster search infrastructure

AI follow-up or document knowledge is unavailable

AI features are controlled by plan entitlements

  • • Initial AI Summary is available on all plans when data-summary="true" is installed
  • • Follow-up conversations and External Knowledge require a paid plan
  • • Uploaded PDF, Markdown, and text document knowledge requires Business or Enterprise; older documents may take a little longer on the first AI Summary while chunks are prepared
  • • When External Knowledge is enabled, answers may include a General AI knowledge source label

Getting Help

If you're still stuck after trying these solutions:

Email Support

Send us details about your issue from the dashboard or by email

Dashboard Help & Supportsupport@flowsearch.io

Include This Info

  • • Your website URL
  • • Browser and version
  • • Console error messages
  • • Steps to reproduce

Next Steps

API ReferenceAPI Keys